System for Voice-Based Alerting of Person Wearing an Obstructive Listening Device

ABSTRACT

A method, system and computer-usable medium are disclosed for voice-based alerting of an individual wearing an obstructive listening device. Certain embodiments include detecting speech in an ambient environment in which the person wearing the obstructive listening device is present; determining whether the detected speech includes a name of the person wearing the obstructive listening device; if the detected speech includes the name of the person wearing the obstructive listening device determining whether the name of the person was spoken using a calling speech characteristic; and if the name of the person was spoken using a calling speech characteristic, automatically alerting the person wearing the obstructive listening device that another person in the ambient environment is calling for attention of the person wearing the obstructive listening device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to information handling systems. Morespecifically, embodiments of the invention relate to systems forvoice-based alerting of a person wearing headphones or other obstructivelistening device.

Description of the Related Art

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individualsand businesses seek additional ways to process and store information.One option available to users is information handling systems. Aninformation handling system generally processes, compiles, stores,and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or otherpurposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of theinformation. Because technology and information handling needs andrequirements vary between different users or applications, informationhandling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled,how the information is handled, how much information is processed,stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the informationmay be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in informationhandling systems allow for information handling systems to be general orconfigured for a specific user or specific use.

Information handling systems often include a mechanism for providingaudio output to a user. In certain systems, the mechanism includes audiodevices that may provide audio output directly (e.g., a wiredconnection) or indirectly (e.g., a Bluetooth connection) to speakers. Incertain systems, the speakers include headphones, earphones, or otheraudio output transducers that, when worn, obstruct the wearer fromproperly hearing the sounds in the wearer's ambient environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system of one or more computers can be configured to performparticular operations or actions by virtue of having software, firmware,hardware, or a combination of them installed on the system that inoperation causes or cause the system to perform the actions. One or morecomputer programs can be configured to perform particular operations oractions by virtue of including instructions that, when executed by aninformation handling system, cause the apparatus to perform the actions.One general aspect includes a computer-implemented method forvoice-based alerting of a person wearing an obstructive listeningdevice, including: detecting speech in an ambient environment in whichthe person wearing the obstructive listening device is present, wherethe speech is detected at an audio transducer of an information handlingsystem; determining, using the information handling system, whether thedetected speech includes a name of the person wearing the obstructivelistening device; if the detected speech includes the name of the personwearing the obstructive listening device, determining, using theinformation handling system, whether the name of the person was spokenusing a calling speech characteristic; and if the name of the person wasspoken using a calling speech characteristic, using the informationhandling system to automatically alert the person wearing theobstructive listening device that another person in the ambientenvironment is calling for attention of the person wearing theobstructive listening device. Other embodiments of this aspect includecorresponding computer systems, apparatus, and computer programsrecorded on one or more computer storage devices, each configured toperform the actions of the methods.

Another general aspect includes a system including a processor; a databus coupled to the processor; and a non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium embodying computer program code, the non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium being coupled to the data bus, thecomputer program code interacting with a plurality of computeroperations and including instructions executable by the processor andconfigured for: detecting speech in an ambient environment in which aperson wearing an obstructive listening device is present, where thespeech is detected at an audio transducer of an information handlingsystem; determining, using the information handling system, whether thedetected speech includes a name of the person wearing the obstructivelistening device; if the detected speech includes the name of the personwearing the obstructive listening device, determining, using theinformation handling system, whether the name of the person was spokenusing a calling speech characteristic; and if the name of the person wasspoken using a calling speech characteristic, using the informationhandling system to automatically alert the person wearing theobstructive listening device that another person in the ambientenvironment is calling for attention of the person wearing theobstructive listening device.

Another general aspect includes a non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium embodying computer program code, the computer programcode including computer executable instructions configured for:detecting speech in an ambient environment in which a person wearing anobstructive listening device is present, where the speech is detected atan audio transducer of an information handling system; determining,using the information handling system, whether the detected speechincludes a name of the person wearing the obstructive listening device;if the detected speech includes the name of the person wearing theobstructive listening device, determining, using the informationhandling system, whether the name of the person was spoken using acalling speech characteristic; and if the name of the person was spokenusing a calling speech characteristic, using the information handlingsystem to automatically alert the person wearing the obstructivelistening device that another person in the ambient environment iscalling for attention of the person wearing the obstructive listeningdevice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerousobjects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in theart by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the samereference number throughout the several figures designates a like orsimilar element.

FIG. 1 shows a general illustration of components of an informationhandling system as implemented in the system and method of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 shows an ambient environment depicting an exemplary use case forcertain embodiments of the disclosed system;

FIG. 3 shows an ambient environment depicting another exemplary use casefor certain embodiments of the disclosed system;

FIG. 4 shows an ambient environment depicting another exemplary use casefor certain embodiments of the disclosed system;

FIG. 5 shows an ambient environment depicting another exemplary use casefor certain embodiments of the disclosed system;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting exemplary operations that may beexecuted in certain embodiments of the disclosed system;

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary audio waveform in which the name of anindividual wearing an obstructive listening device is detected in theambient environment;

FIG. 8 depicts one manner of training a machine language classifier torecognize voice signals having a calling speech characteristic;

FIG. 9 depicts an example of an initialization operation that may beexecuted to train a speech recognition engine to recognize names in theaudio of speech detected in the ambient environment; and

FIG. 10 depicts the use of a speech recognition engine and machinelanguage classifier during operation of certain embodiments of thedisclosed system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A system, method, and computer-readable medium are disclosed forimplementing a system for voice-based alerting of a person using anobstructive listening device. As used herein, an “obstructive listeningdevice” includes a device used by an individual to listen to audio butdiminishes the ability of the individual to hear other sounds in theirenvironment. Examples of obstructive listening devices include, forexample, headphones, earphones, headsets, etc.

Certain aspects of the disclosed system appreciate that users spend alot of time wearing obstructive listening devices (e.g., earphones,earbuds, headsets, etc.) while listening to audio such as music, audiobooks, or when watching television. Certain aspects of the disclosedsystem appreciate that users wearing an obstructive listening device maybe unaware of the sounds occurring in the user's ambient environment. Assuch, users of obstructive listening devices may not hear when someonecalls out their name. As an example, while at home a child could watchTV while wearing a headset and not notice when his parent is calling forthe child's attention.

Certain embodiments also recognize that many working areas are openspaces in which employees often use obstructive listening devices as away to filter out noise and to stay concentrated and focused on theirwork. Certain embodiments recognize that wearing an obstructivelistening device sometimes compromises the teamwork of individuals whileworking in open space office environments since it is often difficult toget the attention of the individual wearing the obstructive listeningdevice to, for example, participate in a conversation. Certain aspectsof the disclosed system recognize that efficiency may be improved whileworking in an open space office environment if the attention of theindividual wearing the obstructive listening device may be obtainedwithout undue interference with the individual and/or others inproximity to the individual.

Certain aspects of the disclosed embodiments are directed to provide anautomated way to obtain the attention of a person wearing an obstructivelistening device by calling out the name of the person. In certainembodiments, speech is detected in an ambient environment in which theperson wearing the obstructive listening device is present. Certainembodiments analyze the detected speech to determine whether the speechincludes the name of the person wearing the obstructive listeningdevice. If the speech includes the name of the person wearing theobstructive listening device, certain embodiments determine whether thename of the person was spoken using a calling speech characteristic. Asused herein, a “calling speech characteristic” includes speechcharacteristics associated with an attempt to directly address orotherwise obtain the attention of the person wearing the obstructivelistening device. As used herein, a “mentioning speech characteristic”includes speech characteristics that indicate that the name of theperson was spoken in a manner other than with a “calling speechcharacteristic,” where there is no need to alert the person wearing theobstructive listening device. For example, a mentioning speechcharacteristic may be used when an individual within the ambientenvironment merely speaks about the individual wearing the obstructivelistening device in a conversational manner (e.g., reading a documentcontaining the name of the individual wearing the obstructive listeningdevice, speaking to another individual about the individual wearing theobstructive listening device, etc.).

Certain embodiments may be implemented in an information handlingsystem, such as a laptop computing system, a desktop computing system, amobile device, etc. In certain embodiments, entertainment systems, suchas audio entertainment systems, television entertainment systems, etc.,may include one or more portions of an embedded information handlingsystem which may incorporate the disclosed system. For purposes of thisdisclosure, an information handling system may include anyinstrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute,classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch,store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilizeany form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific,control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling systemmay be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any othersuitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality,and price. The information handling system may include random accessmemory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a centralprocessing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/orother types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of theinformation handling system may include one or more disk drives, one ormore network ports for communicating with external devices as well asvarious input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, anda video display. The information handling system may also include one ormore buses operable to transmit communications between the varioushardware components.

FIG. 1 is a generalized illustration of an information handling system100 that can be used to implement the disclosed system and method. Theinformation handling system 100 includes a processor (e.g., centralprocessor unit or “CPU”) 102, input/output (I/O) devices 104, such as adisplay, a keyboard, a mouse, and associated controllers, a hard driveor disk storage 106, and various other subsystems 108. In certainembodiments, the other subsystems 108 include one or more audio devicesused to provide audio content to a user of the information handlingsystem 100. In certain embodiments, such audio content is provided fromthe audio device to the user at one or more transducers connected to theaudio devices through a wired and/or wireless connection. In certainembodiments, the transducers include earphones, ear buds, headphones, orother obstructive listening device.

In various embodiments, the information handling system 100 alsoincludes a network port 110 operable to connect to a network 140, whichis likewise accessible by a service provider server 142. The informationhandling system 100 likewise includes system memory 112, which isinterconnected to the foregoing via one or more buses 114. System memory112 further comprises an operating system (OS) 116 and in variousembodiments may also comprise a voice-based alert system 118. In certainembodiments, the voice-based alert system 118 includes various modulesthat may be used in the training and execution of certain embodiments ofthe voice-based alert system 118.

In certain embodiments, the voice-based alert system 118 includes aspeech recognition engine 120 having a machine learning module 122,which is trained to recognize the name of one or more users of theinformation handling system 100 as detected in speech occurring in theambient environment. In certain embodiments, the machine learning model122 has been trained to recognize the names of one or more users of theinformation handling system 100. In certain embodiments, the names ofthe one or more users correspond to users who are likely to listen toaudio output from one or more of the audio devices 108 with anobstructive listening device.

In certain embodiments, ambient environment audio is detected by anaudio transducer to an audio input of one or more of the audio devices108. In certain embodiments, the audio transducer may be a microphonebuilt into the information handling system 100. In certain embodiments,the audio transducer may be in the form of a microphone integrated intothe obstructive listening device. In certain embodiments, the audiotransducer may be in the form of one or more microphones that arelocated within the ambient environment at locations separate from theinformation handling system 100 and obstructive listening device. Incertain embodiments, multiple audio transducers may be disposed in theambient environment in an array that is configured to limit detection ofambient audio to a particular area and/or cubicle within the officeenvironment. It will be recognized, based on the teachings of thepresent disclosure, that other types of audio transducers andcorresponding locations of the audio transducers may be employed.

In certain embodiments, the audio detected in the ambient environment isconverted to a digital format, and stored in an audio buffer 124. Incertain embodiments, the speech recognition engine 120 analyzes thestored digitized audio using the machine language model 122 to determinewhether the name of the user wearing the obstructive listening device isdetected within the digitized audio. In those instances in which thedetected speech includes the name of the user wearing the obstructivelistening device, a machine language classifier 126 analyzes thedigitized audio to determine whether the digitized audio has spoken thename with calling speech characteristics.

In certain embodiments, the voice-based alert system 118 also includesan alert engine 128. In certain embodiments, the alert engine 128 isconfigured to provide the user wearing the obstructive listening devicewith an alert when the name of the user is detected and has a callingspeech characteristic. As an example, the speech recognition engine 120may detect that the audio in the ambient environment includes the nameof the user wearing the obstructive listening device as determined bythe machine language model 122. If the name of the person is detected,the machine language classifier 126 classifies the manner in which thename was spoken to determine whether the name was spoken using callingspeech characteristics. If the name of the user wearing the obstructivelistening device has been spoken using calling speech characteristics,the alert engine 128 provides an alert to the user wearing theobstructive listening device. The alert is provided to the user toindicate that a person in the user's ambient environment is trying toobtain the user's attention.

The alert engine 128 may provide the alert to the user wearing theobstructive listening device in one or more manners in certainembodiments. In certain embodiments, the alert engine 128 includes anaudio alert module 130. In certain embodiments, the audio alert module130 is configured to interact with the audio device 108 providing audioto the obstructive listening device. In certain embodiments, theinteraction includes reducing the volume of the audio provided from theaudio device 108 to the obstructive listening device. In certainembodiments, the interaction includes a repetition of the detectedspeech containing the name of the user so that the user has a way ofidentifying the individual calling the user's name. In certainembodiments, the speech recognition engine 120 may specifically identifythe individual calling the user's name with the machine languageclassifier 126. As an example, the audio alert module 130 may synthesizespeech that speaks the name of the individual calling the user's name.Based on the teachings of the present disclosure, it will be recognizedthat other manners of manipulating audio to provide the audio alert maybe employed.

In certain embodiments, the alert engine 128 includes a visual alertmodule 132. In certain embodiments, the visual alert module 132 isconfigured to interact with one or more devices to provide a visualalert to the user that an individual is calling out the user's name inan effort to obtain the user's attention. In certain embodiments, thevisual alert module 132 may be configured to interact with a display ofthe information handling system 100. In certain embodiments, theinteraction includes providing a message, or other visual indication, onthe display of the information handling system 100 indicating that anindividual is calling out the user's name using a calling speechcharacteristic. In certain embodiments, the speech recognition engine120 may specifically identify the individual calling the user's namewith the machine language classifier 126 by, for example, displaying thename of the individual calling out the user's name. Based on theteachings of the present disclosure, it will be recognized that othermanners of displaying the visual alert may be employed.

In certain embodiments, the machine language model 122 is trained torecognize specific user names. In certain embodiments, the machinelanguage model 122 is trained to recognize specific user names as spokenby specific individuals that are likely to be in the ambient environmentof the user of the obstructive listening device. In certain embodiments,memory 112 may include name training recordings 134 that are used totrain the machine language model 122. In certain embodiments, the nametraining recordings 134 are recorded during an initial trainingoperation and used to train the machine model 122.

FIG. 2 through FIG. 5 show ambient environments depicting exemplary usecases for certain embodiments of the disclosed system. In the depictedexemplary use cases, the name of an individual is emphasized in thefigures when it is spoken with speech characteristics indicating thatthe speaker is attempting to obtain the attention of the individualhaving that name. Similarly, the name of the individual is notemphasized when the name is used with mentioning speech characteristics.

FIG. 2 shows an ambient environment 200 in which certain embodiments ofthe disclosed system may be employed. In FIG. 2, a specific use case ofthe disclosed system is illustrated. In the ambient environment 200,there are three users “Anna,” “Bobby,” and “Charlie,” each using theirown obstructive listening devices 202, 204, 206, that are receivingaudio from respective information handling systems 208, 210, and 212. Inthis example, each information handling systems 208, 210, and 212,include respective audio transducers (e.g., microphone) 214, 216, and218. However, various manners of providing ambient audio to theinformation handling systems 206, 210, and 212 may be employed. Forexample, one or more of the audio transducers 214, 216, and 218 may bemicrophones built into the respective information handling systems 208,210, and 212. In certain embodiments, one or more of the audiotransducers 214, 216, and 218 may be in the form of microphonesintegrated into the obstructive listening devices 202, 204, and 206 ofthe users. In certain embodiments, the audio transducers 214, 216, and218 may be in the form of one or more microphones that are arrangedwithin the ambient environment 200 at locations separate from theinformation handling systems 208, 210, and 212, and obstructivelistening devices 202, 204, and 206. In certain embodiments, multipleaudio transducers may be disposed in the ambient environment 200 in anarray that is configured to limit detection of ambient audio to aparticular area and/or cubicle within the office environment. In certainembodiments, there may be more audio transducers or fewer audio than thenumber of information handling systems. In certain embodiments, forexample, a single audio transducer may provide ambient audio to multipleinformation handling systems. It will be recognized, based on theteachings of the present disclosure, that other types of audiotransducers and corresponding locations of the audio transducers may beemployed to detect audio in the ambient environment.

In the specific use case shown in FIG. 2, three individuals—Diane, Evan,and Fred—speak in the ambient audio environment 200. In this example,Diane asks, “Have you seen Anna or Bobby today?” The speechcharacteristics of the reference to “Anna” and “Bobby” in the questionindicate that Diane is merely making an inquiry mentioning Anna andBobby as opposed to attempting to obtain the attention of Anna or Bobby.In this example, Evan states, “No, but I did see Charlie.” The speechcharacteristics of the reference to “Charlie” in the statement indicatesthat Evan is merely making a statement mentioning Charlie as opposed toattempting to obtain Charlie's attention. Also, in this example, Fredasks, “Where is Charlie?” Again, the speech characteristics of thereference to “Charlie” in the question indicates that Fred is merelyposing a question mentioning Charlie as opposed to attempting to obtainCharlie's attention.

FIG. 3 shows an ambient environment 300 depicting another exemplary usecase for certain embodiments of the disclosed system. Again, there arethree users “Anna,” “Bobby,” and “Charlie,” each using their ownobstructive listening devices 202, 204, 206, that are receiving audiofrom respective information handling systems 208, 210, and 212. In thisexample, Diane states, “Anna, I need to speak with you.” The speechcharacteristics of the reference to “Anna” in the request indicates thatDiane is attempting to obtain Anna's attention. Accordingly, certainembodiments of the disclosed system provide an alert to Anna thatsomeone within the ambient environment 300 is attempting to obtainAnna's attention. In the depicted example, the alert to Anna is in theform of attenuated audio from the information handling device 208 to theobstructive listening device 202. A visual alert is also provided toAnna on the display of her information handling device 208. In certainembodiments, the visual alert may include a display of the name “Diane.”

In the example depicted in FIG. 3, Diane also states, “Charlie, I needto speak with you as well.” The speech characteristics of the referenceto “Charlie” in the request indicate that Diane is attempting to obtainCharlie's attention. Accordingly, certain embodiments of the disclosedsystem provide an alert to Charlie that someone within the ambientenvironment 300 is attempting to obtain Charlie's attention. In thedepicted example, certain embodiments attenuate the audio provided fromthe information handling device 212 to the obstructive listening device206 used by Charlie. A visual alert may also be provided to Charlie onthe display of his information handling system 212. In certainembodiments, the visual alert may include a display of the name “Diane.”

Also in this example, Evan states, “I think Bobby is working latetonight.” However, the speech characteristics of the reference to“Bobby” in the question indicate that Fred is merely making a statementmentioning Bobby as opposed to attempting to obtain Bobby's attention.Accordingly, the information handling system 210 does not provide analert to Bobby.

FIG. 4 shows an ambient environment 400 depicting another exemplary usecase for certain embodiments of the disclosed system. In the ambientenvironment 400, there are two users, “Anna” and “Bobby,” each usingtheir own obstructive listening devices 402 and 408 that are receivingaudio from respective information handling systems 406 (e.g.,smartphone) and 410 (e.g., gaming console). In this example, there is asingle individual, “Mom,” speaking in the ambient environment 400. Here,Mom states, “Anna, it is time for dinner.” The speech characteristics ofthe reference to “Anna” in the request indicate that Mom is attemptingto obtain Anna's attention. Accordingly, certain embodiments of thedisclosed system provide an alert to Anna that someone within theambient environment 300 is attempting to obtain Anna's attention. Here,a visual alert message is provided on the display of informationhandling system 406, and the audio to the obstructive listening device402 is attenuated.

Also, Mom asks, “Have you seen Bobby?” The speech characteristics of thereference to “Bobby” in the question indicate that Mom is merely makingan inquiry mentioning Bobby as opposed to attempting to obtain Bobby'sattention. Accordingly, the information handling system 410 ignores thereference to “Bobby” and does not provide an alert in response to Mom'squestion.

FIG. 5 shows an ambient environment 500 depicting another exemplary usecase for certain embodiments of the disclosed system. Again, there aretwo users, “Anna” and “Bobby,” in the ambient environment 500, eachusing their own obstructive listening devices 402 and 408 that arereceiving audio from respective information handling systems 406 (e.g.,smartphone) and 410 (e.g., gaming console). In this example, there is asingle individual, “Dad,” speaking in the ambient environment 500. Here,Dad asks, “Bobby, where are my car keys?” The speech characteristics ofthe reference to “Bobby” in the request indicate that Dad is attemptingto obtain Bobby's attention. Accordingly, certain embodiments of thedisclosed system provide an alert to Bobby that someone within theambient environment 500 is attempting to obtain Bobby's attention. Here,a visual alert message is provided on the display of informationhandling system 410 and the audio to the obstructive listening device408 is attenuated.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting exemplary operations that may beexecuted in certain embodiments of the disclosed system. In thisexample, it is assumed that the disclosed system has been trained usingrecorded names of individuals who are likely to listen to audio on anobstructive listening device of the disclosed system. In certainembodiments, the disclosed system may implement aninitialization/learning operation in which names of certain potentialusers are recorded and used to train the machine learning model of thespeech recognition engine. As an example, recordings of one or moreindividuals stating a name of a user who is likely to listen to audio onthe disclosed system may be used to train the machine learning model. Insuch instances, certain embodiments limit the number of names that needto be trained, thereby potentially reducing the storage needed for themachine learning model and increasing the overall accuracy of the speechrecognition system.

In certain embodiments, speech is detected in the ambient environment atoperation 602. In certain embodiments, a determination is made atoperation 604 as to whether the detected speech includes a trained name.If a trained name is not detected in the speech, the speech is ignoredat operation 606, and the disclosed system continues to detect andanalyze speech in the ambient environment.

If the detected speech includes a trained name, a determination may bemade at operation 608 as to whether the person with the trained name isusing an obstructive listening device. In certain embodiments, thisdetermination may involve querying one or more audio devices of theinformation processing system to ascertain whether an audio device isconnected to an obstructive listening device. As an example, certainembodiments may determine whether the audio device is connected to awireless device, such as Bluetooth earphones, Bluetooth headphones,Bluetooth earbuds, etc. In certain embodiments, the type of device maybe identified by querying the names of listening devices currentlyreceiving audio over a Bluetooth connection. In certain embodiments, thedisclosed system may determine whether a connected listening device is alistening device operating openly in the ambient environment (e.g.,speakers, entertainment sound systems, etc.) or an obstructive listeningdevice that is providing personal audio to the user. In certainembodiments, the name in the detected speech is ignored at operation 610if the audio from the disclosed system is provided to a listening devicein the ambient environment.

It will be recognized, in view of the teachings of the presentdisclosure, that the initial determination at operation 604 may beinaccurate or otherwise not obtainable in cases in which the listeningdevice is openly providing audio in the ambient environment since theaudio provided by the listening device may interfere with the detectionof speech in the ambient environment. Accordingly, certain embodimentsmay disable the detection of speech at operation 602 until such time asaudio is provided to an obstructive listening device.

If the detected speech includes a trained name of a user who isreceiving audio using an obstructive listening device, a determinationmay be made at operation 612 as to whether the trained name is spokenwith a calling speech characteristic. If the trained name is spoken witha calling speech characteristic, the user may be provided with an alertat operation 614. Otherwise, certain embodiments will ignore the trainedname if it is not spoken with a calling speech characteristic atoperation 610 and continue with the speech detection of operation 602.

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary audio waveform 700 in which the name of anindividual wearing an obstructive listening device is detected in theambient environment. In certain embodiments, a machine languageclassifier uses the prosaic features of the waveform 700 to determinewhether the name is spoken using a calling speech characteristic. Incertain embodiments, the prosaic features include the intensity of thename 702 in the audio waveform 700 as determined, for example, by theamplitude (e.g., peak amplitude, average amplitude, etc.) of the portionof the waveform 700 that includes the name. As an example, names spokenwith a higher intensity may be treated as more likely to have a callingcharacteristic than a name spoken with a lower intensity. In certainembodiments, the prosaic features include the duration 704 of theportion of the waveform 700 identified as including the name. As anexample, names spoken with a shorter duration may be treated as morelikely to have a calling characteristic than a name spoken with a longerduration. In certain embodiments, the prosaic features may include aduration of a pause 706 occurring after the portion of the waveform 700identified as including the name. As an example, longer pauses may betreated as more likely to have a calling characteristic than pauseshaving a shorter duration. It will be recognized, in view of theteachings of the present disclosure, that various speech characteristicsof the waveform 700 may be used to determine whether a name is spokenwith a calling speech characteristic.

FIG. 8 depicts one manner of training a machine language classifier 800to recognize voice signals having a calling speech characteristic. Incertain embodiments, a set of voice signals labeled as having a callingspeech characteristic 804 are combined with a set of voice signalslabeled as having a mentioning speech characteristic 806 to provide atraining data set 808. In certain embodiments, the machine languageclassifier 800 may be trained by leveraging deep neural network on thelabeled dataset that contains the audio samples (e.g., way format) ofnames from the two labeled. In certain embodiments, the machine languageclassifier 800 may classify the speech characteristics of an audio fileincluding a name as merely mentioning the name as part of a generalconversation or classify the speech characteristics of an audio fileincluding a name as having calling speech characteristics. Once themachine language classifier 800 has been trained, the machine languageclassifier 800 may be used to determine whether the detected name of anindividual is spoken in the ambient environment using a calling speechcharacteristic.

FIG. 9 depicts an example of an initialization operation that may beexecuted to train a speech recognition engine 900 to recognize specificnames in the audio of speech detected in the ambient environment. Incertain embodiments, multiple audio recordings 904 of a name spoken by asingle individual 902 may be used to train the speech recognition engine900. In certain embodiments, multiple audio recordings 904 of the namespoken by multiple individuals may be used to train the speechrecognition engine 900. In certain embodiments, the training of thespeech recognition engine 900 may be limited to the names of individualsthat are expected to listen to audio through an obstructive listeningdevice using the information handling system.

FIG. 10 depicts the use of the speech recognition engine 900 and machinelanguage classifier 800 during operation of certain embodiments of thedisclosed system. In this example, the speech of an individual 1002within ambient environment 1004 is detected at an audio transducer 1006(e.g., microphone), which provides an analog signal of the detectedspeech to an analog-to-digital converter 1008. In certain embodiments,the digital signal output of the analog-to-digital converter 1008 isaccessed by the speech recognition engine 900 to determine whether thedigital signal output includes a recognized name (e.g., a trained name).In certain embodiments, the machine language classifier 800 uses thedetected speech to determine whether the individual 1002 has spoken thename using a calling speech characteristic. If the name is spoken with aspeech calling characteristic, certain embodiments actuate an alertresponse system 1010, which provides an alert to the user 1012 wearingthe obstructive listening device indicating that a person within theambient audio environment 1004 is attempting to gain the user'sattention. As noted herein, in view of the teachings of the presentdisclosure, there are number of different manners in which the user 1012may be alerted by the alert response system 1010.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present inventionmay be embodied as a method, system, or computer program product.Accordingly, embodiments of the invention may be implemented inhardware, in software (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.) or in an embodiment combining software and hardware.Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computerprogram product on a computer-usable storage medium havingcomputer-usable program code embodied in the medium.

Any suitable computer usable or computer readable medium may beutilized. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, forexample, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, ordevice. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer-readable medium would include the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), anoptical storage device, or a magnetic storage device. In the context ofthis document, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be anymedium that can contain, store, communicate, or transport the programfor use by or in connection with the instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentinvention may be written in an object oriented programming language suchas Java, Smalltalk, C++or the like. However, the computer program codefor carrying out operations of the present invention may also be writtenin conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The program codemay execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Embodiments of the invention are described with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products according to embodiments of the invention. Itwill be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/orblock diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may beprovided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purposecomputer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce amachine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor ofthe computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, createmeans for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchartand/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The present invention is well adapted to attain the advantages mentionedas well as others inherent therein. While the present invention has beendepicted, described, and is defined by reference to particularembodiments of the invention, such references do not imply a limitationon the invention, and no such limitation is to be inferred. Theinvention is capable of considerable modification, alteration, andequivalents in form and function, as will occur to those ordinarilyskilled in the pertinent arts. The depicted and described embodimentsare examples only, and are not exhaustive of the scope of the invention.

Consequently, the invention is intended to be limited only by the spiritand scope of the appended claims, giving full cognizance to equivalentsin all respects.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for voice-basedalerting of a person wearing an obstructive listening device,comprising: detecting speech in an ambient environment in which theperson wearing the obstructive listening device is present, wherein thespeech is detected at an audio transducer of an information handlingsystem; determining, using the information handling system, whether thedetected speech includes a name of the person wearing the obstructivelistening device; if the detected speech includes the name of the personwearing the obstructive listening device, determining, using theinformation handling system, whether the name of the person was spokenusing a calling speech characteristic; and if the name of the person wasspoken using a calling speech characteristic, using the informationhandling system to automatically alert the person wearing theobstructive listening device that another person in the ambientenvironment is calling for attention of the person wearing theobstructive listening device.
 2. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, further comprising: using a speech recognition engine of theinformation handling system to determine whether the detected speechincludes the name of the person wearing the obstructive listeningdevice; and using a machine learning classifier of the informationhandling system to determine whether the name of the person was spokenusing a calling speech characteristic or non-calling speechcharacteristic.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein:the machine learning classifier is trained using prosodic features ofdetected speech to determine whether the detected speech is using acalling speech characteristic.
 4. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, further comprising: training a machine learning model of aspeech recognition engine of the information handling system, during aninitialization operation, to recognize a name of one or more people whowill wear an obstructive listening device to receive audio from theinformation handling system, wherein the training includes recording thename of one or more people who will wear the obstructive listeningdevice.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein alertingthe person wearing the obstructive listening device comprises one ormore of: using the information handling system to provide an automatedvisual indication to the person wearing the obstructive listening devicethat another person in the ambient environment is calling for theattention of the person wearing the obstructive listening device; andusing the information handling system to attenuate a signal level ofaudio provided to the person wearing the obstructive listening device.6. The computer-implement method of claim 1, wherein: the obstructivelistening device is configured for wireless connection to an audiooutput of the information handling system.
 7. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the information handling system includes atleast one of: a laptop computing system; a desktop computing system; amobile device; an audio entertainment system; and a televisionentertainment system.
 8. A system comprising: a processor; a data buscoupled to the processor; and a non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium embodying computer program code, the non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium being coupled to the data bus, thecomputer program code interacting with a plurality of computeroperations and comprising instructions executable by the processor andconfigured for: detecting speech in an ambient environment in which aperson wearing an obstructive listening device is present, wherein thespeech is detected at an audio transducer of an information handlingsystem; determining, using the information handling system, whether thedetected speech includes a name of the person wearing the obstructivelistening device; if the detected speech includes the name of the personwearing the obstructive listening device, determining, using theinformation handling system, whether the name of the person was spokenusing a calling speech characteristic; and if the name of the person wasspoken using a calling speech characteristic, using the informationhandling system to automatically alert the person wearing theobstructive listening device that another person in the ambientenvironment is calling for attention of the person wearing theobstructive listening device.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein theinstructions are further configured for: using a speech recognitionengine of the information handling system to determine whether thedetected speech includes the name of the person wearing the obstructivelistening device; and using a machine learning classifier of theinformation handling system to determine whether the name of the personwas spoken using a calling speech characteristic or non-calling speechcharacteristic.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions arefurther configured for: training the machine learning classifier usingprosodic features of detected speech to determine whether the detectedspeech is using a calling speech characteristic.
 11. The system of claim8, wherein the instructions are further configured for: training amachine learning model of a speech recognition engine of the informationhandling system, during an initialization operation, to recognize a nameof one or more people who will wear an obstructive listening device toreceive audio from the information handling system, wherein the trainingincludes recording the name of one or more people who will wear theobstructive listening device.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein theinstructions are configured for alerting the person wearing theobstructive listening device using one or more of: using the informationhandling system to provide an automated visual indication to the personwearing the obstructive listening device that another person in theambient environment is calling for the attention of the person wearingthe obstructive listening device; and using the information handlingsystem to attenuate a signal level of audio provided to the personwearing the obstructive listening device.
 13. The system of claim 8,wherein: the obstructive listening device is configured for wirelessconnection to an audio output of the information handling system. 14.The system of claim 8, wherein the information handling system includesat least one of: a laptop computing system; a desktop computing system;a mobile device; an audio entertainment system; and a televisionentertainment system.
 15. A non-transitory, computer-readable storagemedium embodying computer program code, the computer program codecomprising computer executable instructions configured for: detectingspeech in an ambient environment in which a person wearing anobstructive listening device is present, wherein the speech is detectedat an audio transducer of an information handling system; determining,using the information handling system, whether the detected speechincludes a name of the person wearing the obstructive listening device;if the detected speech includes the name of the person wearing theobstructive listening device, determining, using the informationhandling system, whether the name of the person was spoken using acalling speech characteristic; and if the name of the person was spokenusing a calling speech characteristic, using the information handlingsystem to automatically alert the person wearing the obstructivelistening device that another person in the ambient environment iscalling for attention of the person wearing the obstructive listeningdevice.
 16. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured for: using aspeech recognition engine of the information handling system todetermine whether the detected speech includes the name of the personwearing the obstructive listening device; and using a machine learningclassifier of the information handling system to determine whether thename of the person was spoken using a calling speech characteristic ornon-calling speech characteristic.
 17. The non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructionsare further configured for: training the machine learning classifierusing prosodic features of detected speech to determine whether thedetected speech is using a calling speech characteristic.
 18. Thenon-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, whereinthe instructions are further configured for: training a machine learningmodel of a speech recognition engine of the information handling system,during an initialization operation, to recognize the name of one or morepeople who will wear an obstructive listening device to receive audiofrom the information handling system, wherein the training includesrecording a name of one or more people who will wear the obstructivelistening device.
 19. The non-transitory, computer-readable storagemedium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured foralerting the person wearing the obstructive listening device using oneor more of: using the information handling system to provide anautomated visual indication to the person wearing the obstructivelistening device that another person in the ambient environment iscalling for the attention of the person wearing the obstructivelistening device; and using the information handling system to attenuatea signal level of audio provided to the person wearing the obstructivelistening device.